It takes a really cold snap, like the one we’re having, to make you look around your home and try to identify how you can keep the heat in.
One simple and stylish solution for a draughty home is to fit a thick curtain over the inside of the front door, which will create an extra layer of insulation against the cold: searches for door curtains are up 62 per cent, according to the curtain company Hillarys.
Alternatively, one could have a vestibule. Which is what our forefathers did. Well, as soon as they built houses larger than peasant cottages that is.
So, all we need to do is reform planning law so that new housing can be larger than peasant cottages then, so that people can have a vestibule again.
Sounds like a good idea.
Though the one I liked best came from Canada. Have a wood burning heating system, so they can’t freeze you when they cut off your gas or electricity.
Company making curtains tells everyone that the solution to draughts is to buy a curtain for the door……..
The Telegraph reptile thinks this is “a really cold snap”?
Canadians and Scandinavians must be rolling in the aisles.
Please keep quiet about this, or lengths of cloth will be on the proscribed list, along with woodburners, coal, gas, cars, and foreign holidays.
They’re called portieres, my granny had one.
There’s nothing like living in a draughty Edwardian flat for decades to help you identify how you can keep the heat in. I moved to a modern one last year and I’ve been opening the windows at night even in the snow.
“… all we need to do is reform planning law …”
Bwa Ha Ha Ha!!!
Hold on, people *wait* until thinking about door curtains? The damn things went up within days of me moving in here three dacades ago.
Vestibule sounds very British Rail, that gap between the seating area and the door.
Principle is sound though, like an air lock on a space ship or sub, say two people max, why haven’t convenience stores, barbers and betting shops got them I wonder.
Because Britain is too warm, perhaps,or energy is too cheap to be worth the bother of the investment, because energy isn’t priced properly. CO2 tax and VAT at 20% would sort it out for domestic users, which the Scandis already do.
Thanks Ed Miliband for fecking up our future by promoting the doing of it the stupid way.
Porches up to 3 sq. m. are permitted development.
So, all we need to do is reform planning law so that new housing can be larger than peasant cottages then, so that people can have a vestibule again.
Every now and then something is written here that reminds me of the simple fact that no matter how fucked up ‘Merica is, it isn’t even close to being as fucked up as England is.
Alternatively, one could have a vestibule
Is that wot us simple folk call a porch, M’lud?
Or . . . make sure the door fits the frame and weatherstripping along the edges, especially for a gap at the bottom.
The other option is not have the front door entering straight into the damn living room. Who on earth thought that was a good idea? Halls are there for a reason. I’ve ranted before about this modern obession with knocking walls down and turning houses into unheatable tombs.
Complained to my wife it was -10 recently and she pointed out where she was in northern Canada it was -40 so I shouldn’t expect any sympathy
Every building I’ve seen up there or been into has a vestibule, also handy space to don or off some of the outer layers as well as providing insulation
Mum’s house, built in the early 1950s – the original victorian terraced house having been bombed in WWII – has a front door and then another door which leads into what I guess is a hallway. I grew up in the house but can’t remember we were ever posh enough to give the space inbetween the doors a name. Can’t remember calling the hallway anything either.
Cost mum & dad £1,400 in 1960. Valued around £450k now. Doesn’t even have off road parking.
Isn’t a porch external so loses heat on all sides bar one, whereas the vestibule is internal and loses heat only through the outer wall? That seems to suggest vestibules are more efficient than porches.
The little picture explaining the difference between jetty, pier,wharf and quay springs to mind.
https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/isq9p4/wharf_vs_quay_vs_pier_vs_jetty/
Is that wot us simple folk call a porch, M’lud?
Use of particular words is always interesting. I grew up with houses with the feature & it was generally referred to as the ‘doorway’ or maybe the ‘lobby’. But certainly never a vestibule. It think that word, if used, might have been associated with a public building or church. And yes, the outside addition was always a porch. Even if not fully enclosed. Absence of Latin speakers?
Bongo, +100. I’m sad and pathetic so these little nuggets are awesome. Thank you.
When I extended in front of the front door on my house in Maidenhead my neighbour called it a ‘Porchette’…
…stuck up little bitch.
My grandmother had one, many years ago. It was always referred to as the Iron Curtain.
my neighbour called it a ‘Porchette’…
Always thought that referred to the 912/914’s Rebadged Volkswagens. For posing down the pub. No one serious would want to drive one.
Paddy is walking past a large house and stands at the back gate. He sees a chap mowing the lawn.
“Got any odd jobs sir?” Says Paddy. “I could do yer lawn fer yer.”
“I tell you what you can do for a tenner. Here’s a pot of paint and a brush. Nip round the front and paint my porch. The missus has been going on at me for ages about it.”
Paddy comes back an hour later and hands the paint back to the man who is now enjoying a cup of tea at his little table in the garden.
“Ah lovely job, sir, you’ll be well pleased. And by the way, it’s not a porch, it’s a Mercedes.”